it took me a while to learn

not to build a home in a person

i wanted their fingers laced together like bricks

i wanted their eyes to be windows

that i could peer out of and admire the view

 

i wanted their legs to be my stilts

and their mouth to be my front porch

i wanted a place to sit on sunday mornings

i wanted the comforts of their ribcage

to wrap around me like the blankets of my childhood bed

 

but people don't do that

they will not bend to your will

and take in tenants they don't have room for

 

it's okay.

lay your own bricks

put drapes up in your eyes and draw them back when the sun rises

wrap yourself in your skin

and breathe in the familiar homey smell

of your heart pumping blood like fresh apple pies.